Dear Paper Frankenstein,
Picture this: my aunt came to visit us a couple of months ago and insisted that I stay with her for some time, to help her with bureaucratic drudgery and other tedious tasks. I forgot to mention that she lives in the US. Yes, New York, the big Apple, the American dream and so on and so forth.
Did I accept? Not really, but she put a lot of pressure on my mum, and I still haven't figured out a job here, so in the end, the decision was made.
I could narrate the chronicles of a conscious choice, made with the promise of a great job offer or a dream of some sort, but I would be lying, which is quite a paradox given my name.
I am lying on the guest room bed now, writing. I need to tell you what life is like here, or at least how it feels after roughly a month as a foreigner.
First of all, my aunt doesn't have the classic tiny guest bedroom you'd expect, but she has a whole loft in the endless yard surrounding her house-castle. I live here alone, and it's quite spacious and cosy. We normally have the meals together, but when she's busy, I'll cook for myself in the loft.
My days are passing quite fast between one paper and another, grocery shopping for my aunt and other housekeeping stuff. At the same time, though, it seems that I've been living here forever. I like this place.
I like the feeling of not being known by most people and the freedom it gives me. Where I come from - a tiny village dispersed in a northern region of Italy, god-forsaken region - everyone knows everything about everyone, which is quite crazy in my opinion. I've always felt stuck in the image of a spoiled rich girl who's been given too much freedom by her parents, so is studying a useless thing that will make her rely on her parents' money well into her old age. Quite frankly, they're not completely wrong, but it's nonetheless myopic with a pinch of jealousy in my opinion.
Here, I can be whoever I want, figure out my career without any restrictions, and become the adult I should become sooner rather than later.
My aunt is an established and well-known art conservator. She's been involved in all major international projects, so she's got a lot of connections with famous art and history museums. It could be useful if I ever feel like putting my fine arts degree to work.
For now, I'm trying to relax in my free time and - I know it sounds crazy, but I have no idea how else to go about this - I'm trying to restore the old artist Vera, the one who used to put in a concrete form her emotions, feelings, thoughts. At the moment, all I've actually done is think and write these pages. I'll update you once my time travel project is successful, but I doubt it.
Other than doing minor work for my aunt, I am learning more and more about her job and everything it involves. The processes are so complex that my brain refuses to write them down now, but once I learn more or get used to this, I'll definitely write something more.
Around my aunt's house, there are other identical villas and a few wealthy neighbours. We hardly see them because they're either busy working or travelling (thank goodness). Among the few people I've met here, there is a really friendly couple: Max from Germany originally and Hannah, a Scottish-American doctor. I believe Max owns a few companies, but I'm not sure which one, and I couldn't care less about them. They're a relatively old couple but have two 5-year-old twins - Lena and Lea. Probably the most annoying creatures in the universe. The way these people spoil their children is monstrous. Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting behind a gated community in one of the capitals of the world, but this is not good.
At the end of the road, there's another friendly couple. They're really young, so as you can imagine, they both come from very (and I mean VERY!) good families. Sam (Samir) is Indian, and Paula is from Brazil. They're really young, in their 20s and have founded a start-up together when they were in high school, which then boomed. Now that their business is established, I think they want to build a family together, or at least this is the usual step. I like those guys because, as you would definitely not imagine, they're really humble, kind, and really care for people, not money, as most people do here.
Okay, now that I described the main changes to you, my dear Frankenstein, I think it's time to go and figure out my life. I'll be back in touch asap, I promise!
Bye Frankie
Vera